Do I really need to write an intro? How about this: dear Peer-IGN Blog Reader, read my rants. Thanks.

Guitar Hero Catches Mono

If you're still pondering which one of your game platforms to buy the new Guitar Hero III for, read this first: quite a few astute readers have emailed me and asked me to check out the audio mix of the Wii version of GH3. Yes, the audio mix is admirable -- if the goal was to mix everything into one channel. For whatever reason, presumably a technical snafu, the game does not offer the advertised Dolby Pro Logic II sound. Instead, it runs in Absence-of-Any-Logic 1.0. So even if your receiver happily sends an audio signal to each one of your speakers, there's no stereo separation at all. Developer Vicarious Visions, in charge of the Wii port of the Neversoft-developed game, flipped the musketeer switch on the audio signal. It's one for all and all for one.

Activision is still investigating whether the issue can be fixed with a patch, but I'm doubtful. In the meantime, according to Oli who emailed us from Germany, the publisher has come up with a much more innovative fix for the European release: remove the DPLII logo from the box.

If you listen to your Wii games via TV speakers, don't let this get you down. It'll still sound fine. But those with a decent setup at home will either want to avoid the game until a newer edition of the game fixes the issue or go with the 360 (best), PS3, or PS2 edition.

Bad Trailers

Let me channel Seinfeld for a sec: What's wrong with action movie trailers lately? When it was first announced, I was actually looking forward to the Frank Darabont adaptation of Stephen King's short story, The Mist -- until I saw the trailer:

Seriously, the tension in the story comes from the fact that you're never sure what's going on. Are there monsters in the mist? What do they look like? Well, no need to keep audiences guessing, right? The trailers of the movie version of The Mist not only dispel any questions over whether there's something in the mist, it shows you exactly what, who it wants to eat, and when. It's a nice service for those who don't want to go see the movie. But it's also a reminder how rare great trailers that keep you guessing are nowadays. For every Cloverfield or Alien, there's a Mist. But you would've thought a movie with that title would keep us in the fog longer. You know, keep things veiled. Nebulous. OK, I'll stop.

The Writers' Strike

You know what else will stop soon? Good television as you know it. In case you haven't been keeping up with the news, members of the Writers Guild of America went on strike on November 5 to force the studios' hands on "New Media" revenue sharing. That sounds a bit like the opening scroll from The Phantom Menace, but it basically boils down to writers (not just the rich ones) not getting a cut when we download an episode of their show via Xbox Live Marketplace or watch a show online. IGNTV has done a great job covering the strike, so check here if you want more info.

The studios have deep pockets, of course, and can afford to wait. Some of the writers can't afford it, but don't want to let the studios get away with it and thus don't have much of a choice. And then there's us. Most of us can go about our daily lives and pretend nothing's going on, but if you're a fan of scripted television programming the effect of the strike will soon creep into your daily business as well. Waiting to see what bear trap Jack Bauer will get caught in? Whoops, sorry. The debut of 24 has been postponed from its January date.

Like Battlestar, Scrubs, Heroes? In some cases, the shows' seasons will simply be cut short. In othe